


Gone Awry

by winehabit



Category: British Actor RPF
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Blood, F/M, Mutual Pining, Reader-Insert, also this takes place during Coriolanus' run, tom and the reader are roommates, violence against reader, worried Tom
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-29
Updated: 2016-11-14
Packaged: 2018-05-16 23:07:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5844502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/winehabit/pseuds/winehabit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the prompt "Tom comes home and finds his friend beaten, bloody, and semiconscious curled up on his floor."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Live a little, Y/N. It’s just one night out! The whole cast and crew are going to be there!” Tom was pleading at this point. Still, you busied yourself with the task of drenching him in the stage blood so as to perfect the battle-worn look the next scene required. He sighed when he realized it was as though he hadn’t said anything at all.

“For the billion and first time Tom, I have to get the stations set up for opening night. Now your cue is coming up we’ll discuss after rehearsal.” You worked to hustle him out the door of the cramped make-up room and back to the scene. He caught hold of the doorframe and froze you both in place once again. 

“So there's hope?” At the look of your mock glare, the mischievous gleam in his eye weaned a bit and he retreated with a stubborn sigh. Opening night was now less than 24 hours away and after the amount of time and effort the cast and crew had poured into the project, no one saw much harm in heading to a hole-in-the-wall pub to relax after rehearsal. While you prided yourself on your ability to resist his charms and persuasions there was always that small part of your brain that was putty in his hands. Right about now that part was chiming ‘ _What’s the harm in a few drinks with friends? Drop all of this and do it tomorrow morning! Live a little!’_ Working to quiet your thoughts, you turned and busied yourself with preparing the make-up stations as Tom’s voice boomed to life in the distance.

“I’ll see you back at the flat and we can drink and watch movies.” You ruffled his hair that was still damp from the shower as if he were a little boy and not a grown man that had a good head and a half on you. “Don’t get too trashed, love.” You laughed at the childlike whine he let out at your latest refusal. Finally giving up the fight, he pressed a kiss to the top of your head and assured you he wouldn’t.

The pub was surging with energy but the absence of the makeup crew chief, his roommate and close friend Y/N, was far too apparent for Tom to find comfort in the crowd. The first thing that had fascinated him when you’d met five years ago was that you challenged him. When his career began to really take off around that time, there had been no shortage of people willing to go with the way he saw things in work and life in general. But you posed a much-appreciated challenge for him.

“Now, why is it that our valiant and celebrated Caius Martius Coriolanus is the only one in here that looks as though he’s drinking to forget?” Alfie Enoch’s voice worked to pull Tom from his thoughts as he not-so-gracefully dropped himself into the stool beside him. “Couldn’t possibly be about anything of the Y/N variety, no no of course not.” He waggled his eyebrows and Tom chuckled. 

“No no, of course not.” He played along, hoping that the dim light of the pub could help to mask the pink flush he felt creeping up his neck. “That obvious?” Tom tried to come off as nonchalant as he cleared his throat but only succeeded in furthering the awkwardness.

“Just a bit, mate.” His laugh was light as he clapped Tom on the shoulder reassuringly. “Now go home, get some rest and apologize to Y/N for all the greenish, hungover faces she’s gonna have to work with tomorrow.” He gestured vaguely towards where Hadley Frasier was examining the condensation running down his glass as if it were the most interesting thing in the crowded room. “Now go woo your girl or do whatever it is that Tom Hiddlestons do to get the girl he wants.” As Tom grabbed his coat with a laugh, Alfie’s other hand came up to grab Tom’s cheeks, stopping him in his tracks. “No pressure but if you two get together before the show run is over, Hadley and select other members of the cast and crew each owe me $20.” 

Not even the crisp night air could calm the heat in Tom’s cheeks as he started the trip back to the apartment and the promise of a night in with his favorite girl.

* * *

 

    It was almost as if his body knew how close he was to the comfort of the apartment as the exhaustion from the day finally started to set in. His stiff muscles ached, only worsening at the sight of the ‘Out of Order’ sign sloppily taped to the elevator of his building. The thought of collapsing onto the white, downy slice of heaven that was his bed was the only thing that willed him through the three flight climb to his flat. His day had revolved around choreographing every pace of every scene of the play. He had spent the day drenched in water, fake blood, tears, and had even spent a stretch dangling from the rafters. Trying the door, he was confused to find that it was already open a bit.

“Honey, I’m home,” Tom called down the hall while looking around the small apartment. He saw Y/N’s red peacoat slung over the back of the couch and his heart rate spiked the slightest amount at the sight of a trail of her clothing leading to the bathroom door. Clearly, he wasn’t the only one looking to unwind from the stresses of the day. “Y/N?”Tom gave a light knock on the door and was met with a faint groan. “Are you quite alright darling? You haven’t started drinking without me have you?” When he was met with silence his gaze went to his feet. There were three droplets of something dark near the crease of the door. Y/N’s silence was becoming more and more troubling by the second before Tom’s anxiety overflowed at the sight of a crimson smear on the door handle. “Y/N I’m coming in. Are you alrigh-“ The words died on Tom’s lips as he took in the scene before him. 

The bathroom looked like something out of a war movie. The nearly empty bottle of whiskey Tom recognized from one of their past movie nights was on its side in the sink. Crimson stained gauze was haphazardly discarded on the countertop. As his eyes traveled to the ground, the next sight nearly stole the breath from Tom’s lungs.

Crumpled in the center of the tile floor, bleeding, and unmoving, was Y/N.


	2. Chapter 2

Tom’s knees made jarring contact with the tile of the floor. It should have been excruciatingly painful but it barely registered as he scrambled to where Y/N was curled up in a heap. Tom’s stomach flipped as he leaned over her. 

“Y/N? Come on, love, come back to me. Y/N, _please.”_ Tom’s voice had started at a bellow, deep and panicked. By the end of his pleads he was down to a nearly frantic whisper. Tom shifted so that she was cradled in his lap and frantically swept away the hair that was obscuring her face. From what Tom could see of her, most of the blood was coming from the split in her lip and a particularly horrifying gash above her eyebrow. 

“ _Shit_ , Y/N can you hear me? Open your eyes, please just, just open your eyes for me.”He tapped gently at her cheek to try to bring her back around. 

Just as he was beginning to truly fear that she might not wake up he was met with a weak cough and groan that had wetness gathering behind his eyes.

“Y/N, oh my god,” His breath came out in a sob as her eyes finally opened and settled on his face. 

“Tom.” Her voice was weak but her smile was genuine, reserved solely for him. The same smile that greeted him every morning with a fresh cup of coffee was now tinged with red.

“My beautiful girl.” A tear managed to escape a second before her cold hand wiped it away with her thumb. Even in her current situation, she was still more concerned with his well-being, the realization made Tom’s stomach clench with guilt. “What happened to you?” 

“Believe it or not, makeup crew chiefs don’t make enough to appease your local group of muggers.” She tried to laugh at the humorless situation but winced and swore under her breath. ”I tried to clean myself up without making a big deal about it but the blood made me a little woozy.” Her laugh was little more than a breath.

Trying his hardest to get a handle on his emotions, he shook his head in an attempt to clear it. A thought dawned on him and before Tom could think it was falling past his lips.

“Did they . . . ? They didn’t-“ He couldn’t even bring himself to force the words out but she was shaking her head as she tried her hardest to sit up. Her gentle hands were shaking slightly as they came up to rest on the sides of his neck.

“Don’t even let your mind go there Tom.” He let out a shaky breath and rested his forehead against hers. “I’m a little roughed up but I’m all right.” Tom nodded and, after pressing his lips to a patch of unmarked skin at her temple, sat back on his heels with a new glimmer of motivation in his eyes

“I’ll get your ID and call for a car to drive us to the-“ He was cut off when she shook her head.

“No, Tom. Please, no hospital no cops-“

“They can help you. They can find who did this to you…” This time his words drifted off at the sight of tears pooling at the corner of her panic-stricken eyes. “Okay, shh shh little bird, it’s alright. We’re not going anywhere tonight, my darling. You’re alright. You’re safe. No hospital.” 

He used the nickname that always seemed to get through to her on nights when her thoughts wouldn’t let her sleep. Nights that would end with dawn’s light finding them still on the couch. Her fast asleep with her head in his lap. Tom’s hand stilled where he’d drifted off combing his fingers through her hair. 

Even now in this horrible situation that neither of them were equipped to deal with, at the calm utterance of the nickname, he watched as some of the tension left Y/N ’s muscles. She was trying her damnedest to avoid eye contact and her eyes combed over his chest. She let out a hard sigh and covered her face with her hands. He heard her mumble something but Tom was only able to catch the tail-end, something about _ruined your shirt_. 

His eyebrows furrowed in conclusion until he glanced down to see the hem of his once white shirt was now tinged crimson. The sickening feeling of cold panic settled over him for what seemed to be the hundredth time that night. 

“What is this from? Y/N, where else are you hurt?”

“Therein lies the reason for all of the dramatics on my end of things,” She gestured haphazardly towards the state of the bathroom and their positioning on the floor. “There’s a cut on my back I couldn’t reach, would you mind . . .” He shook his head quickly and she nodded with an easy smile.

“Not at all,” he eased her gently out of his lap and stood, clearing off the gauze that littered the sink. “Come here, darling.” Tom held out his hands and slowly eased her to her feet. He paused for a moment, blotting gently at the cut on her forehead that seemed to have finally stopped bleeding before letting his hand come to rest on the side of her neck. Y/N was looking up at him like he was something fascinating and for the first time that night she finally resembled the girl he’d grown to care for so deeply over the years. 

The respite was brief and he watched as her eyes glossed over and she swayed before stumbling into him. 

“Hey. No- hey Y/N look at me.” He eased her down to sit on the toilet and reached to wet a washcloth in the sink. Her skin was pale, cool to the touch and covered in a cold sheen of sweat. Her gaze was unfocused. Tom swept the cloth over her forehead and over her cheeks, expertly avoiding agitating the cuts and scrapes until she finally regained some of her color. 

“Alright,” He raked his fingers through his hair in an attempt to form somewhat of a coherent thought. “Back to the um, t-the task at hand. Pull your, uh, t-the-“ Tom cut himself off before he had the chance to accidentally bite off his tongue with the intensity of his stammering and settled for a vague gesture to the thin black camisole that covered her upper half.He used the excuse of turning to rummage through the linen closet to hide the flush that was creeping up his neck. Turning back to her with another washcloth and gauze he stopped short and had to pause for a moment to push back his rage and the bile that had risen in his throat.

The smooth skin of Y/N’s back was a stark contrast to that of her left side. Blossoming splotches of pinks, purples, and blues spanned from her shoulder blade halfway down her back. There was an irritated looking cut that measured four or five inches in the middle of the bruising.

Tom’s thoughts were positively _murderous._

This wasn’t right, _this wasn’t how this situation was supposed to go_. When he imagined the first time she would undress in front of him (a thought that entered his mind more and more frequently and at increasingly inconvenient times) he could never have imagined that this scenario could ever play out like this.

He took a deep breath in a weak attempt to recover his composure. _Buck up you bloody idiot this isn’t about you._ One of his hands touched her heated skin and the shiver that made it’s way down her spine wasn’t lost to him.

“You’re alright, my darling.” Her hand searched for his as he started to clean the irritated skin. After ten minutes he’d managed to remove most of the dirt and gravel, mumbling an almost constant stream of apologies all while she kept an almost vice-like grip on his hand when the pain got to be too much. Only when the last pristine white bandage was smoothed down did her muscles finally relax. “You did so well, darling.” He pressed a kiss against her shoulder. “We need to get you to bed. You must be absolutely knackered.” 

She nodded, lazily reaching for him like it was second nature. He breathed out a laugh as he arranged so that she could nestle into the warmth of his chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for hanging in there during the millennia between chapters! thank you for reading and commenting and (god willing) it wont be another 80 years until the next/last part is posted!


End file.
